So glad I found this blog… Today of all days! Major Match-Day congrats!! I’m an M2 now, also at a school with no neurosurgery residency program, trying to figure out earlier rather than later if I can and should pursue it. Please shoot me an email if you don’t mind, I’d especially like to hear your impressions of different programs and how you went about picking them, having no ‘home’ programs to apply to. I will definitely be checking back here for more posts especially after July 1… Congrats again & thanks for sharing!!

Real Blogs of Genius

Residencies Under Consideration

There Can Be Only One
NeuroSurg (mmm ... brains ....)

Well I Can't Take 'Im Like That, It's Against Regulations
GenSurg (the self loathing is strong with this one)
Rad Onc (kind of like surgery, but now with 50% more laser beams)
Internal Medicine (Dear Cardiology and Critical Care, please please please talk me out of becoming a surgeon)

Truly Dead
Anaesthesia (although, everyone loves anaesthesiologists so much, and I do like words spelled differently in the Queen's english.)
ENT (I'm just not that elegant ... and if I really like head and neck surgery, I'm going to want to do some brains)
CTSurg (being single-boarded in a potentially extinct field is too scary. now a CT fellowship, that could be cool)
PlasticSurg (I just can't care about skin. also, i'm not that pretty.)
Rheumatology (I have to confess to not really knowing what a rheum/allergy/immunology residency really is)
Radiology (Don't want to play where's waldo for a living)
Ophtho (I can't pronounce it correctly)
Emergency Medicine (too many consults, no resolution to the most serious and interesting cases you see, just the lame ones)
Peds anything (admittedly, peds cardio is awesome. but at the end of the day you just do echoes and refer to CTsurg. and that's the best of the specialties. Did I mention I don't like rounding?)
Pathology (I like my patients living and mostly intact)
Urology (life is not just a dick joke)
OB/GYN (malpractice + pelvic exams = no way)
PM&R (Amy Winehouse said it best ... )
Derm (I'd like to do more with my life than prescribe one of three steroid skin creams)
Family Med (Best in theory, worst in practice)
Psych (Because I'm not *really* crazy ... right?)
Prev Med (Although I do like preventing medicine, I would rather prevent disease ...)
VascularSurg (My anastomoses have been likened to retarded worms trying to copulate. Not a good sign.)
OrthoSurg (I am consistently able to use multisyllabic words and can occasionally use punctuation. I rarely grunt.)

Reading List for Medical Students

Recommended

Forgive and Remember - Charles Boska must read for aspiring surgeons

The House Of God - Samuel Shemthe classic. a must read for all medical students

Moonwalking With Einstein - Jonathan Foermedical school is remembering. this will help.

Cheating Death - Sanjay Guptawill make you rethink what you think you know about death. recommended for all medical students.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down - Anne Fadimanthe frustrating intersection of sociology and medicine. a how-not-to guide, reveals the limits of medicine.

Bioethics: A Systematic Approach - Bernard GertWhat little training I've had in medical ethics came from this man. Since he no longer teaches, get the book.

This Will Only Hurt A Bit - Michelle AuShows that there is hope, even if you go into the "wrong" specialty. Shows that there is hope, even if you have kids at the "wrong" time. Lots of insight into what makes someone choose a training path and how they pursue it.

AMA: Preparing for years 1-3
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/about-ama/our-people/member-groups-sections/minority-affairs-consortium/transitioning-residency/getting-ready-medical-school-years-1.page Surprisingly, a website from the AMA that doesn't suck. Worthwhile reading for every medical student because, if you don't at least do the things recommended here, you have no business complaining to anyone else.

The Social Transformation of American Medicine - Paul Starr Too long by half. Important to understand that Medicine hasn't always been this way. Struggle through what parts of it you can.

On Writing - Steven King Because, like it or not, we are all writers. Stop using those damn adverbs already.